Nicole, Mérida, & the Plan

What does one write after their last full week as a missionary....I´m not entirely sure. I could tell you about my week:

-the Bishop bought us food every night in a last ditch effort to send me home fat

-for the anniversary of the Relief Society there was a stake activity and every ward danced a jarana. #IloveMexico #lajaranaeselbailedeYucatan 

Relief Society Anniversary: Barrio Quintero

Con mi terno.....just kidding it´s not mine.

-Nicole got baptized. And it was beautiful. I love that family that is on its way to being eternal. 

-I hit 18 months.

-The Bishop made me speak in sacrament meeting. #Ididn´tcry #maybeIwantedto

-Flaviano and his sister Lucía came to church again. #he´sgonesixtimes

-We taught a man named Alfredo. He came to church. And now he wants to get baptized as soon as possible. 

Zona Brisas

It was a great week. And it made me realize exactly how much I am going to miss this beautiful, hard, crazy, amazing experience that is the mission. I learned so much and I feel like I have lived a thousand lives beneath the Mérida sun. I can´t even begin to explain it all, but this is what I know:

I know that God lives. I know He is our Father, and that He loves us and knows us personally. I know that He has a plan for each one of us, and that His plan is perfect. I know that He can do more with us than we could ever do on our own. I know that Christ is our Savior and that His Atonement can rescue us from both the obscurity of sin and the darkness of trials and sorrows. I know that this Church is true. I know it was restored through a prophet of God, and that we have the fulness of the gospel of Christ. I know that I needed to come to Mérida to find the God´s plan for me, and I´m just begining to understand it. And I plan on searching out this plan for the rest of my life. 

I know these things to be true. I don´t know everything but I know enough. 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Obispo Parra

Our daughter

My super cute daughters.

Conference, Christmas, & Caridad

Hi Everyone!! 

So it was General Conference weekend which is basically Christmas here. I've enjoyed conference before but it is SO much better as a missionary. We get a break from our normal schedule and we get to listen to prophets and apostles! I took notes on a lot of things, but one thing I really took away was that this work is not about statistics, it's about love. And it doesn't matter how statistically good I am if I'm not loving the people, the gospel, and this work. :) Also, how cool was it that people spoke in Spanish!!! We were so excited...and then a little bummed out when they voiced over it. But we watched them later just in Spanish and they were so much better!! There are some things that just sound better in Spanish. ;) 

We taught Raul (the man from Ecuador) again this week. He still speaks really fast, but I totally understood him. We had a really good lesson on the Plan of Salvation and then discussed a little bits about the Trinity and his understanding of God. It was the perfect lead in to teach him the Restoration next time and...we got switched to another investigator. :( It's kind of sad because I really love Raul and I loved being challenged, but our new investigator is great too. 

Fun fact, I met an Elder McKenna this week. Spelled exactly the same way. Hahah how random? Also, he said he's always wanted to marry a McKenna so her name will be McKenna McKenna. Hahhaha. 

Some funny stories for the week: the five hermanas share a room so we always say prayers together before bed, and normally they're in Spanish. Hermana Cook was saying the prayer and said "Por favor bendice nos con castidad..." Hahah she meant to say caridad which is charity, but instead she said 'please bless us with chastity' hahahah we were all dying laughing. Oh the perils of Spanish. Hahahh. Also, Elder Lyons in my district made up this saying "Que en el mundo" which means what in the world, but is NOT actually a saying in spanish, and our Maestra Hermana Iroz has told us over and over again that that is NOT a thing, and it's never going to be a real saying. But the other night in class the elders managed to get tangled up in each others' keys and as she was untangling them she said "Que en el mundo.." quietly under her breath and then looked really ashamed. hahah it was the best thing ever. Also, the elders have also decided that it's officially Christmas time... -_- So we sing Christmas songs and they spray Pumpkin Spice Glade in our classrooms. For the record, I would just like to state that Christmas songs should not be sung before Thanksgiving. Bah humbug. ;) (Although we sang Angels We Have Heard On High staccato and it was the coolest thing ever. Try it.)

We had a really awesome Devo Sunday night. Vai Sikahema came and spoke to us. He played football at BYU and then in the NFL, and he was so great! He talked about how missionary work should just be a natural way of life, it shouldn't be weird or awkward. He was great; Dad you would have loved it! After our Tuesday night Devo, we had district devo review with Pres. & Sis. Doman, President Doman had just spent the day with Elder Holland, and so he shared some really cool things with us. He talked about fathers, and father's love. I know that my dad loves me and misses more than I know, so I can't even begin to imagine how much my Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to return to Him. I'm trying every day to be someone both my earthly and Heavenly Father can be proud of. Also, I finished the Book of Mormon this week, and after I prayed about it I got that quiet confirmation of its truthfulness like I always do, but that night we had the best lesson with Hermana Iroz about testifying of the BoM and inviting others to read it, and we practiced that over and over. I knew that that was an answer to my prayer, and that my testimony of the Book of Mormon is to be shared. 

I'm halfway done here at the MTC how crazy is that??? I love you all so much!

Vale la pena,

Hermana Wilson

Thanks for all of the packages!!